Lane N or Lane N-1?

I'm new here, but I thought about this question the other day, and figured this was as good a place to post it as any, so here it goes: Which do you prefer (and why), given the following scenario? In lane N, you can pretty much lead all of the sets and "set the pace" for the lane in the workouts with your masters club. Are you more likely to stay in this lane or try to move to the next lane (N-1 in my pool), and try to "hang on" there at the end of the lane? I'm sort of looking at this right now -- I can pretty much lead my lane, but I have been trying hard to work up the nerve to jump into lane 1 in my pool. I think the difference is that most of the Lane 2 types like me were last really competitive in high school, whereas the Lane 1 types are mostly former collegiate swimmers (one of them is actually going to China for American Samoa, I think). I swam a little in college, but only on my own. I'm back in it now after more than 15 years, and I'm starting to make some progress... Discuss! Twosox